Islay, Smaull
Hut Circle (Prehistoric)
Site Name Islay, Smaull
Classification Hut Circle (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 37393
Site Number NR26NW 20
NGR NR 20954 68418
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/37393
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Kilchoman
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NR26NW 20 2095 6841.
NR 211 683. North of the stream is an oval turf and stone walled enclosure, 29ft N-S by 22ft E-W within a 7ft thick wall, with, on the south, a sub-rectangular annexe 14ft each way. The entrances are in the south. Attached to the north wall of the larger enclosure is a circular walled structure 14ft in diameter. All stand on a 'raft' of beach pebbles and the plan is suggestive of a Mediveal farmhouse-cum-byre analogous to structures on Lewis and St Kilda. Probably associated are turf and stone field dykes, small, peaked clearance cairns and a larger 'raft' of gathered beach pebbles.
F Newall 1963.
NR 208 684. A hut circle and cairnfield lies about 500m west of the unnamed steading north of Smaull farm (NR 214 685). The approximate diameter of the hut circle is 10m with an entrance annexe, about 5m by 4m, on the south.
Infomation contained in letter from Dr E A Cormack to OS, 16 August 1974
NR 2095 6840. A circular enclosure situated on a gentle south-west facing slope near the shore at 20 metres OD. It is 13.0m in diameter over substantial turf-covered walling spread to 2.8m and 0.7m high with an uneven interior, There is a 1.8m wide entrance in the south east with a sub-square annexe measuring 5.5m over turf-covered walling 1.5m wide and 0.4m high. The 1.2m wide gap in the enclosure wall on the north is probably a mutilation. The enclosure and annexe appear to stand on a stone platform but this is most probably tumbled walling or possibly later clearance.
The surrounding area extanding to 1.2 hectares has several fragmentary field banks visible but no clear fields. There are also seven turf-covered stone field clearance heaps perhaps of recent origin, which are 5.0m in diameter and 0.8m high.
This enclosure resembles other huts (NR26NW 3) but its isolation and the square annexe cast doubt on it being prehistoric.
Surveyed at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (T R G) 23 May 1978.
Field Visit (June 1980)
NR 209 684. In an area of rig-and-furrow and field clearance cairns to the SW of the deserted farmstead of Smaull there is a hut-circle measuring 9m by 8m within what is now a stony bank 0.7m high; several stretches of facing-stones remain, including a stone on the NE angle of the entrance passage, which is situated in the SE quadrant. There are two straight stretches of bank at the entrance, as well as four small secondary structures, partly overlying the line of the wall of the hut.
RCAHMS 1984, visited June 1980
Measured Survey (1980)
RCAHMS surveyed the hut-circle at Smaull at a scale of 1:200. The plan was redrawn in ink and published at a reduced scale (RCAHMS 1984, fig. 146C).
